Vermont (March 4, 1791) was the 14th State admitted into the Union. The Constitution of the State of Vermont, adopted 1777, stated:
<Preamble. Whereas all government ought to be instituted and supported for the security and protection of the community, as such, and to enable the individuals who compose it to enjoy their natural rights, and other blessings which the Author of existence has bestowed on man.> 1791VT001
<DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, III. That all men have a natural and Unalienable right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences and understanding, regulated by the word of GOD;
and that no man ought, or of right can be compelled to attend any religious worship, or erect, or support any place of worship, or maintain any minister, contrary to the dictates of his conscience;
nor can any man who professes the Protestant religion, be justly deprived or abridged of any civil right, as a citizen, on account of his religious sentiment, or peculiar mode of worship, and that no authority can...interfere with, or in any manner control, the rights of conscience, in the free exercise of religious worship;
nevertheless, every sect or denomination of people ought to observe the Sabbath, or the Lord's day, and keep up, and support, some sort of religious worship, which to them shall seem most agreeable to the revealed will of GOD.> 1791VT002
In 1786, the legislature of the State of Vermont passed the "Declaration of Rights," Article I, which abolished slavery within the State. The Constitution of the State of Vermont, adopted 1786, stated:
<Frame of Government, Section IX. And each member [of the Legislature], before he takes his seat, shall make and subscribe the following declaration, viz: "I do believe in one God, the Creator and Governor of the Universe, the Rewarder of the good and Punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the Scripture of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine inspiration, and own and profess the Protestant religion.
And no further or other religious test shall ever, hereafter, be required of any civil officer or magistrate in this State."> 1791VT003
In 1792, the Constitution of the State of Vermont stated:
<Frame of Government, Chapter II, Section XII. And each member, before he takes his seat, shall make and subscribe the following declaration, viz:
"You do believe in one God, the Creator and Governor of the Universe, the Rewarder of the good and Punisher of the wicked."> 1791VT004
In 1793, the Constitution of the State of Vermont stated:
<Chapter I, Article III. That all men have a natural and unalienable right, to worship Almighty God, according to the dictates of their own consciences....Every sect or denomination of Christians ought to observe the Sabbath or Lord's Day, and keep up some sort of religious worship, which to them shall seem most agreeable to the revealed will of God.> 1791VT005
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1791VT001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Vermont, July 8, 1777, Constitution. Perley Poore, ed., The Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the United States (Washington, 1877), Vol. II, p. 1857. Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968). The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. 2, p. 483.
1791VT002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Vermont, 1777, Constitution, Declaration of Rights, III. Perley Poore, ed., The Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the United States (Washington, 1877). Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968). The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. 2, p. 485. Edwin S.Gaustad, Neither King nor Prelate-Religion and the New Nation, 1776-1826 (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993), p. 173.
1791VT003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Vermont, 1786, Article I, "Declaration of Rights," was passed by the legislature of Vermont which abolished slavery within the State. The Constitutions of the Sixteen States (Boston: Manning and Loring, 1797), p. 249. Vermont Constitution, 1786, Frame of Government, Section IX. Edwin Gaustad, Faith of Our Fathers (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987), pp. 173-174. Anson Phelps Stokes, Church and State in the United States (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1950), Vol. I, p. 441. Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968). Anson Phelp Stokes and Leo Pfeffer, Church and State in the United States, 3 vols. (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1950), Vol. I, p. 441.
1791VT004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Vermont, 1792, Constitution, Frame of Government, Chapter II, Section XII. The Constitutions of the Sixteen States (Boston: Manning and Loring, 1797), p. 257.
1791VT005. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Vermont, 1793, Constitution, Chapter I, Article III. Benjamin Franklin Morris, The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States (Philadelphia, PA: L. Johnson & Co., 1863; George W. Childs, 1864), p. 235. Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court and Public Prayer (New York: Fordham University Press, 1964), p. 175; "Hearings, Prayers in Public Schools and Other Matters," Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate (87th Cong., 2nd Sess.), 1962, pp. 268 et seq.